Framingham School Committee Considers New Climate Change Policy

The following is an opinion column and does not necessarily reflect the views of Framingham Patch

FRAMINGHAM, MA - This coming May 4 may prove to be an historic day for the Framingham Public Schools.

On its 7 p.m. meeting agenda, the School Committee has review and a first vote on its new Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability policy. Not only would adoption of this new policy be a big step forward for the Framingham Public Schools, but also Framingham would be the first school district in the Commonwealth to adopt such a policy. This is consistent with the rapidly rising improvement trajectory of the school district.

There have been several local school-based efforts on the climate change, environment and sustainability front in recent years. Witness the new solar roof at Fuller and its solar canopy which will come online in the summer. Witness the Brophy solar canopy, also coming online in the summer, which was initially not considered as part of a stormwater-driven parking lot renovation, but through School Committee pressure was included in that project. Further, there was a lot of student pressure in the school district to eliminate Styrofoam from school cafeterias, reduce paper use in classrooms, and plant more trees in the community through the Tree-Plenish program.

These have all been good steps forward, but it was abundantly clear that all action on climate change, environment and sustainability was occurring in a piecemeal, haphazard manner, which demanded creation of a much more organized, coherent approach, with special attention paid to including student voice.

Although we have two solar canopy projects, what about the other 13 school parking lots? Although Styrofoam was eliminated for a while in school cafeterias, it has come back into use there. Although progress has been made on paper use reduction, as a student pointed out at the April 27 School Committee meeting, there is still much to be done. Although more than 200 trees were planted by the Tree-Plenish program, they were all in residents’ back yards, with not a single tree planted on school property. Plus, there are so many more areas which could be included in a comprehensive effort.

First a new policy was needed, and that would drive planning and action.

That effort was undertaken in 2020 by the Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability subcommittee of the School Committee which, although somewhat impeded by the pandemic, met eight times over the last two years, seeking input from School Committee members, the administration, teachers, students, the city Sustainability Coordinator and local environmental groups. The new policy underwent full review by all these groups prior to its fifth and final revision being submitted to the full School Committee for an adoption vote on May 4.

The new policy updates the existing environmental policy, which is out of date, lacks any clear definition of scope, requires no planning of any kind to implement it, has no support for collaboration with the city and no encouragement for student engagement. The very generality of the existing policy has diminished its impact and provided very little guidance for planning or decision making in the school district.

The new Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability policy is comprehensive, aligns with many city and state objectives, and covers the following areas, with many specific subareas called out, so there is no confusion on scope:

• Reduction of the school district carbon footprint, with 25 sub areas called out.
• Reduction of the school district waste stream and water usage, with 11 sub areas called out.
• Expansion of school district awareness, education and engagement, with 16 sub areas called out.
• Reduction of school district environmental pollution and contamination, both internal and external, with 14 sub areas called out.
• Guidelines for new school construction.
• Adjustment of the school district strategic plan to align with this policy.
• Annual policy review.
• Communications with the city administration and the city council.

The new policy will have a tangible impact on almost all major responsibility areas of the school district: buildings & grounds, teaching & learning, health & wellness and finance & operations, as well as fostering both collaboration with the city, and student civic engagement in the critical areas of climate change, environment and sustainability.

The new Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability policy may be viewed at:

https://www.framingham.k12.ma.us/cms/lib/MA01907569/Centricity/Domain/81/Climate%20Change/Last%20Updated%20EBACA%20-%20CLIMATE%20CHANGE%20ENVIRONMENT%20AND%20SUSTAINABILITY%20POLICY%20-%20Google%20Docs.pdf

Adopting the new policy in its current form will have many very positive impacts, on all our students, the Framingham Public Schools, and the entire Framingham community.

I encourage the community to review the new policy and show the School Committee their support for its adoption. Email the School Committee at: school__committee@framingham.k12.ma.us, or make a public comment at the May 4th 7pm School Committee meeting, by turning up at the meeting, or registering on Zoom at: https://fpsed-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_beW0aQ02QfyJOr4NVufk2A.

Geoffrey Epstein is the former District 6 Framingham School Committee member and former Chair of the Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability Subcommittee.